Akron: Hill's boyfriend testified in Denny Ross retrial

AKRON -- Day Two of the Denny Ross trial got underway about 9:20a.m. before Judge Judy Hunter in Summit County Common Pleas Court.

Denny Ross, now 33,is being retried in the murder of Hannah Hill, 18, of Kenmore.

The prosecution put Hill's boyfriend Brad O'Born on the stand. Defense attorneys also questioned him. He was the only witness in the trial Wednesday.

Court adjourned for the day a few minutes before 4 p.m. and will resume at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Hill was found beaten, raped and murdered on May 19, 1999.Her body was found in the trunk of her gold Geo Prizm on Caine Road in Ellet six days after she was reported missing.

Ross is charged with murder, felonious assault and abuse of a corpse.

Day Two of testimony in the Denny Ross retrial resumed about 9:20 a.m.The prosecution called Brad O'Born to the stand. O'Born was Hill's boyfriend at the time of her murder.

O'Born was on the stand all morning and a lunch break was called just before noon.

Court resumed at 1 p.m. with prosecutors still questioning O'Born. Defense attorneys got their chance to question O'Born starting at about 1:40 p.m.

Ross was originally charged with beating, raping and strangling Hill on May 19, 1999. Ross went on trial in 2000 for Hill's murder, but a judge declared a mistrial after learning that the jurors had discussed a lie detector test-- evidence that was not presented during the trial.

It was later learned that the jurors had voted to acquit Ross on the murder counts, but the verdicts were never read in open court.

After more than a decade of appeals from Ross's attorneys, in December 2010, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that Ross could stand trial again.

The court declared that a second trial would not constitute double-jeopardy, however, the death penalty will not be considered in the second trial.

Ross' second trial was originally scheduled to take place in the fall of 2011, but has been delayed twice. While on probation following the Hill trial, Ross brutally raped an Akron woman in 2004.

Ross was convicted of rape, attempted murder and assault and is currently serving a 25-year sentence in the Trumbull Correctional Institution.

Special prosecutors from Cuyahoga County were assigned to the current case because the Summit County Prosecutor's office has a conflict of interest with the victim's family.

New DNA evidence has since been presented to the court by the prosecution, which prosecutors believe will present a stronger case this time around.

The jury will have Tuesdays off throughout the trial as Tuesdays are Hunter's criminal call day.

On Monday thejury visited Ross's former apartment on Canton Road and were also taken to Caine Road, where Hannah Hill's body was found in the trunk of her Geo Prizm. They also heard opening statements from the prosecution and the defense attorneys.